VentureSouth is an early stage investment firm that operates angel groups and funds in the Carolinas. Currently, the network includes 10 active angel groups and more than 200 investors who meet regularly to support early stage Southeastern companies with capital and expertise. Last week, VentureSouth launched its new VentureSouth Angel Fund II, which will begin investing this fall.

The new fund continues the investment strategy and methods of its predecessor, the Palmetto Angel Fund. The Palmetto Angel Fund was formed in 2014 as the first “sidecar” investment fund of committed capital designed to invest alongside the active angels in its groups in the Carolinas. It has invested its nearly $2 million of capital in 18 portfolio companies.

The Palmetto Angel Fund was fully deployed ahead of its anticipated schedule, a testament to the attractive early stage companies in the Southeast and to the efficiency of the fund’s sidecar model. The VentureSouth Angel Fund II will continue the same investing strategy and methods, co-investing when 10 or more VentureSouth members invest at least $100,000 in a candidate company. The fund is designed to invest in 15-20 Southeast-based companies over the next 2-3 years.

The General Partners of the fund are Charlie Banks, Paul Clark, Matt Dunbar, and Mac Lackey, who together run VentureSouth. Paul commented: “When it launched, the Palmetto Angel Fund was the first committed capital sidecar fund in South Carolina. It was a step change in VentureSouth’s funding of early stage companies, increasing entrepreneurs’ access to capital and allowing investors that lacked the time to be active angel investors to participate in a hard-to-access asset class.”

Charlie added: “Now that VentureSouth covers 10 cities across North and South Carolina, we look forward to expanding the Palmetto Angels Fund’s trailblazing path with this successor fund.”

Angel investors can achieve attractive investment returns when they diversify their investments across a large number of portfolio companies. This can be difficult to do alone, as it requires access to proprietary deal flow, investment expertise, thorough monitoring, and administrative skill. The sidecar funds of VentureSouth provide investors with those advantages, enhancing the probability of achieving attractive returns.